Collections & Credit Control Principal Consultant

We are seeking a highly experienced and hands-on professional to establish and lead the Collections & Credit Control function. This role is critical to improving cash flow, accelerating the collection of receivables, strengthening credit discipline, and proactively managing customer credit risk as the business grows. The successful candidate must have a proven track record in maintaining strong collection performance, reducing overdue receivables, improving Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), and managing credit exposure in a disciplined and commercially practical manner. The role requires both field execution and strong internal coordination across Finance, Sales, Delivery, Legal, and Treasury.

Responsibilities:

Collections Management & Execution

• Own the end-to-end collections process and drive timely collection of customer receivables in line with agreed payment terms.
• Take all necessary collection actions, including calls, emails, meetings, and in-person visits to client offices where needed, to secure payment on time.
• Manage an assigned portfolio of customer accounts and maintain a clear action plan for overdue balances.
• Negotiate payment arrangements, settlement plans, and corrective actions with customers while preserving the commercial relationship.
• Escalate critical collection matters promptly and recommend practical actions to management. Credit Control & Risk Management
• Assess the creditworthiness of prospective and existing clients before engagement and before extending or revising credit terms.
• Review available financial and commercial information, customer payment behavior, and risk indicators to identify high-risk accounts.
• Recommend appropriate credit limits, payment terms, advance payment requirements, guarantees, or other risk mitigation measures.
• Continuously monitor customer exposure and aging trends and recommend actions for accounts showing deterioration in payment behavior.
• Support decisions on service restrictions, suspension, or escalation where credit risk becomes unacceptable. Receivables Forecasting & Cash Visibility
• Provide Treasury with weekly, and more frequently if needed, cash forecasts for expected receivable collections.
• Track forecast versus actual collections and explain variances clearly and promptly.
• Maintain short-term and medium-term visibility over collection expectations to support liquidity planning. Contract Proposal & RFP Review
• Participate in the review of customer contracts, proposals, and RFPs to ensure payment terms, billing milestones, retention clauses, acceptance conditions, and other commercial terms are aligned with the company’s cash flow requirements.
• Highlight contractual clauses that may delay invoicing, weaken collectability, or expose the company to unnecessary credit risk.
• Coordinate with commercial and legal stakeholders to recommend more protective and cash-efficient terms before commitment.

Billing, Dispute Resolution & Internal Coordination

• Coordinate with Sales, Project Management, Delivery, Billing, Treasury, and Legal to remove internal blockers affecting invoicing and collections.
• Participate in the resolution of disputes related to invoices, milestones, documentation, pricing, service acceptance, and other issues delaying payment.
• Follow up internally to ensure all required supporting documents are issued accurately and on time to avoid delays.
• Work closely with accounting teams on unapplied cash, reconciliation gaps, and customer account issues that affect visibility or collection follow-up. Reporting, KPIs & Performance Management
• Monitor and report key receivables and credit metrics, including aging, overdue balances, collection effectiveness, disputed balances, and DSO.
• Identify collection trends, concentration risks, and recurring causes of delayed payment, and recommend corrective actions.
• Prepare periodic management reports with clear commentary, account-level risks, and collection action plans. Policy, Controls & Function Building
• Establish and continuously improve the Collections & Credit Control framework, including policies, procedures, workflows, escalation protocols, and internal controls.
• Build a disciplined and scalable approach to customer onboarding, credit review, follow-up collections, and risk monitoring.
• Support the implementation of dashboards, ERP controls, and reporting tools that strengthen receivables management and working capital performance.
• Help define future team structure and resource needs as the business grows.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in Finance, Accounting, Business, or a related field. Professional qualifications are a plus.
• Minimum 8-10 years of highly relevant experience in collections, credit control, accounts receivable, or receivables risk management
• Strong and proven record of maintaining healthy collections performance, accelerating overdue recovery, and controlling customer credit risk.
• Experience in B2B environments with contractual billing and varied payment terms.
• Ability to engage externally with client finance teams and internally with commercial, legal, project, and finance stakeholders.
• Strong analytical capability in reviewing aging, exposure, collection trends, and forecast accuracy.
• Hands-on, proactive, and willing to travel locally to client offices when needed to support collection efforts
• Experience in reviewing contract payment terms and identifying collectability or cash flow risks.

Preferred Experience

• Experience in a service, project-based, or contract-driven business environment.
• Experience establishing or strengthening collections / credit control function in a growing company.
• Familiarity with ERP-based receivables tracking, aging analysis, and management reporting.
• Knowledge of local market payment behavior, credit practices, and practical recovery approaches.

Key Success Measures

• Improvement in on-time collections performance
• Reduction in overdue receivables and aging balances
• Reduction in DSO
• Better quality and accuracy of receivables cash forecasts
• Reduced exposure to weak-credit customers and lower bad debt risk
• Faster resolution of disputes and internal billing blockers
• Stronger contractual payment terms in new deals
• Strong negotiation skills and confidence in dealing directly with customers, including difficult collection cases.